Double bass masters Gary Karr (left) and Lu Yuanxiong will stage a concert, titled The Bass Hero, in Shanghai. [Photo provided to China Daily]
Gary Karr is fascinated with Chinese culture, especially the traditional gardens, though the double bass master has never played on the mainland.
Together with, and at the invitation of, fellow bassist Lu Yuanxiong from Texas Christian University, Karr will present the concert, The Bass Hero, in Shanghai on Dec 20.
The program, which includes works by Sergei Rachmaninoff, Serge Koussevitzky and Camille Saint-Saens, will feature the sound quality of the double bass, which is among the world's largest string instruments.
The American musician was active on the global scene for 40 years before retiring in 2001.
As a soloist, Karr, 73, played with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Montreal Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic and others. He has taught at Juilliard School and New England Conservatory, among other renowned music schools, and has published books on the double bass.
In 1962 he played as a soloist in the New York Philharmonic Young People's Concert, conducted by Leonard Bernstein and televised across the United States. He is known as one of the best bassists since the 20th century and one of the first in the world to be a full-time soloist.
It was since Karr that the double bass became recognized as a solo instrument, Lu says.
Lu was born in Shanghai, and is the first Chinese double bassist to win awards at international competitions. Lu says Karr pushed the double bass to new boundaries by developing playing techniques and the instrument itself.
Karr founded the International Society of Bassists in 1967 as a venue to promote the instrument. He has worked through the organization, together with musicians from many countries, to raise the standard of the double bass and make it more user-friendly.
Double bass masters Gary Karr (left) and Lu Yuanxiong will stage a concert, titled The Bass Hero, in Shanghai. [Photo provided to China Daily]
In the 1960s, when he started his career as a soloist, the double bass was almost "completely unknown" to the public. It has come a long way, Karr says.
Karr's parents were refugees from Russia and stayed in Shanghai in the early 1900s before migrating to the US, where he was born. He recalls having Chinese furniture and paintings at home and getting interested in Chinese culture at a young age.
His hobby of gardening led him to find out more about ancient Chinese gardens, Karr tells China Daily during a phone interview.
"I always dream to come back where my family lived," he says.
For his debut concert in China, he deliberately chose musical pieces from the early 1900s, to reflect Shanghai back then, when the city was the new land of hope for immigrants.
During their stay in Shanghai, Karr and Lu also plan to visit the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, and together present an open concert and an illustration class at the conservatory's He Luting Concert Hall on Dec 22.
Zheng Deren, 92, the first professional double bass player in China, will also join students whom he taught through the decades for the same concert, serving as the guest conductor.
The concert The Bass Hero is part of the monthly Sunday morning concert series that has become a fixture at Shanghai Concert Hall since 1982.
Among China's longest concerts, the series aims to introduce music to a broader audience. In recent years, it has been broadcast live on radio and shared through video and audio platforms online.
